Privacy Policy

Updated on 14th May 2018
If you are about to subscribe to my blog or newsletter website, email me, or contact me on social media (or if you have already done any of these things), you should read this notice. The general information about website security, links to third party websites and use of Google Analytics (‘Cookies’) applies to all visitors.

New General Data Protection Regulations come into force on 25th May 2018. Although they are designed primarily for large organisations, please be assured that I take your privacy extremely seriously. That’s why I only ever ask you for the information I need and I never sell lists or email addresses.

For details of my website security, see below.

By subscribing to my newsletter you consent to receiving details of newsworthy events and incidental information, which may include but will not be limited to a free eBook, details of new releases, special offers, competitions and giveaways. I do not store your Personal Information. Instead, my list of newsletter subscribers is managed on two third party sites called MailChimp and Mailerlite. When you sign up to my newsletter, you consent that I can:

All MailChimp and Mailerlite forms collect your email address, IP address, and add their own timestamp which serves as evidence that you have provided consent. I do not have access to the Distribution Lists of other MailChimp MailChimp and Mailerlite users and they do not have access to mine. If you subscribe to my newsletter and use the ‘forward to a friend’ (FTF) link, this will allow you to share my email content with individuals who are not on my Distribution List. You can be assured that when you forward an email to a friend, MailChimp doesn’t store your friend’s email address, and it will not be added to my Distribution List.

If you obtain a free book via the third party site Bookfunnel , at the point of download you will be given the option of signing up for my newsletter. Bookfunnel provides a service for authors and does not use or share email addresses. Read Bookfunnel’s Privacy Policy here.

In order to demonstrate that you have elected to sign up to my newsletter, after you complete your details, you will receive an email asking you to confirm your intention. This process is known as ‘double opt-in.’

If I meet you at an event and you provide me with your name and email address/other contact details on the understanding that I will sign you up to my blog or newsletter, you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you want to join the lists.

How can I unsubscribe?

You can stop receiving blog posts and newsletters at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included at the foot of every blog post or email I send you.

By subscribing to my blog you consent to having blog posts delivered to your email address. My list of blog subscribers is managed via Blogger, and so the information is not exported to a third party provider. This Privacy Statement also applies to my blog.

Special Requests from Readers and Advance Readers

If you have either asked to join or have accepted a personal invitation to request advance copies of books or other privileged material, I will assume that your email is consent to process your Personal Information. In addition to your name and email address, I will also keep a record of your postal address if relevant to our exchange. If you volunteer any other Personal Information when commenting on or reviewing one of my books, I will assume that I have your consent to process it.

Fulfillment of a contract

If you employ me to provide self-publishing or creative writing mentoring services, I will need to process your Personal Information to fulfill my contract with you. I will retain a greater level of Personal Information, including a record of the advice I give you, but the level of detail will always be appropriate to the service provided. If you volunteer a greater level of Personal Information than I ask for, I will assume that you are happy for me to retain this.

If you ask me to visit your book club or give a talk, I may also store details of the location, even if I do not make a charge for the personal appearance. I will always ask for your permission to photograph the event and to store and make use of those photographs after the event.

If you order physical books from me directly on a one-off basis, I will retain your postal address. If you pay me via PayPal, a record of that transaction will be stored on PayPal’s website. If you wire money directly to my bank account, my bank will retain a record of that transaction.

Legitimate business interest

If you contact me via the contact form on my website or email me directly, I will simply reply, relying on lawful basis of processing (in other words, I will not ask for your consent before replying). I will not enter your details on any database without your consent, but your name and email address will automatically be stored as a ‘contact’ on Outlook. I may also store the email/email chain if it contains details I think I may need to refer back to, especially if it contains a review of my work.

Social Media

If you comment on my social media accounts or on You Tube, records of those transactions will be held by the relevant social media channels. I have access to databases of followers on Twitter and Facebook. In these instances, I am not the data processor. However, I use strong passwords and two factor authentication on these sites.

Minors

I do not knowingly collect or maintain Personal Information from individuals under 16 years of age, and no part of my website is designed or intended to attract people under the age of 16. Protecting the privacy of children is very important to me. If you are under 16, do not use or provide any information on the website or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address or any screen name or user name you may use. If I obtain knowledge that a user is under the age of 16, I will take steps to remove that user’s Personal Information from my databases.

How long will you keep my Personal Information for?

The answer is, that depends.

If you have subscribed to my blog or newsletter, but you do not open my emails, I may delete your Personal Information. You can unsubscribe at any time (see above).

If you are a privieleged or advance reader, I will retain your Personal Information until you advise me that you no longer wish to be a privileged reader or advance reader.

If I provide you with mentoring or self-publishing consultancy services, I will need to keep a record of the advice I have given to refer back to. I will review whether I need to keep this information three years after advice is given.

Your rights

Can I ask to see what Personal Data you are holding about me?

You are entitled to ask me what information I hold about you and how I am processing that data. This is called a Subject Access Request. To file a request, simply use the contact form on my website. I aim to respond to all requests within 7 days.

If you ask to see your data, I will usually email you a screenshot/s of your entry/entries and the text from any emails. Information will be provided free of charge, unless your request is excessive or if you ask for duplicate information.

What if my Personal Information is wrong?

You can ask me to correct your Personal Information at any time.

Can I ask you to stop processing my Personal Information?

Absolutely. You can also exercise your right to request to be forgotten.

The right to be forgotten

If you unsubscribe from my blog or newsletter, your data will be automatically deleted.

You have the right to request to be forgotten. If you have used the contact form/emailed me, on receipt of your request, I will consider if it is appropriate for me to delete your data. (See ‘How long will you keep my Personal Information for?’) I will only decline to do so if there is a legitimate reason to retain it, in which case you will still have the right to object to use of your Personal Information, or to ask me to only use it in certain ways.

For social media, you have control of your own accounts and can change the settings so that I will no longer have access to your data. If you are an Instafreebie user, this step will not remove your details from their database and you will also need to contact them. I am happy to assist with this step.

Website security

My website is managed by The Curved House, who back up information held on my website and run monthly security scans. My website has an SSL Certificate. This activates the padlock and https protocol and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser. Typically, SSL is used to secure credit card transactions (although I don’t conduct sales from my website), data transfer and logins, and more recently is becoming the norm when securing browsing of social media sites.

Google Analytics

I use Google Analytics on my blog but not on my website. Google is the Data Processor and their system uses anonymised data. You can read Google’s Privacy Policy here. As of 1 May 2018, they are “working hard to prepare for the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.”

Google Analytics is a ‘Cookie’. Cookies allow the local temporary storage of details regarding your specific information and preferences when visiting a website. For example, it takes note of how many people visit my website, how they navigated it website, how long they spent on each page, etc. This is so that I can continue to improve the content I provide, bearing in mind that I want visiting my website to be a fun and enjoyable experience, so that readers will want to come back! I don’t collect data on individual visitors (i.e. Personal Information), only a summary of statistics of visitors browsing my website.

How can I control and delete cookies?

If you wish to restrict or block the Cookie, you can do this through your browser settings. The ‘Help’ feature within your web browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on how to manage privacy and security settings on a wide variety of web browsers and how to delete cookies from your computer (including those from this visit). For information on how to do this on your mobile device, you will need to refer to its user guide.

Data breaches

I use strong password-protecting on my computer, website and social media. If my computer, website or social media accounts were compromised, I would notify you at the earliest opportunity, seek advice and take steps to follow that advice immediately.

What is a cookie?

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device.

Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improve the user experience. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests. The cookies used on this website have been categorised based on the categories found in the ICC UK Cookie guide.

Category 1: Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies services you have asked for, like shopping baskets or e-billing, cannot be provided.

Category 2: Performance cookies

These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works.

By using our website, you agree that we can place these type of cookies on your device.

Category 3: Functionality cookies

These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. For instance, a website may be able to provide you with local weather reports or traffic news by storing in a cookie the region in which you are currently located. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.

By using our website, you agree that we can place these type of cookies on your device.

Category 4: Targeting cookies or advertising cookies

These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers. Quite often targeting or advertising cookies will be linked to site functionality provided by the other organizations.

A list of all the cookies used on this website by category is set out below.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.